I Just Want to Give Every Girl I Like a Home

At lunchtime, the bell rang.

Many of the underachievers had already been itching to leave. They rushed out of the classroom, afraid they'd miss out on food if they were even a moment too late, even though hardly anyone was competing for the free wild-vegetable set meals.

I was just about to get up and head back to the dorm when I noticed two girls approaching me.

"Satoru-chan, you're being naughty! You haven't replied to my messages at all!"

Hasebe Haruka pulled Sakura Airi over to my seat.

This seemed to be the first time anyone in the classroom had come up to talk to me of their own accord.

Come to think of it, although I was pretty good-looking, most of the class seemed to think:

He's really good-looking, and his grades are great too. Too bad he can't keep his mouth shut!

A few people had looked like they wanted to come over and chat, but they'd all changed their minds after seeing the atmosphere in the class. That suited me just fine. It saved me the trouble.

"Long time no see, Kaka, Airi-chan."

"L-long time no see, Gojo-kun."

Sakura Airi, whose hand was being held, blushed and looked a little shy. She kept trying to hide behind Haruka.

"You can just call me Satoru. We exchanged names last time, didn't we? Look, Kaka says it just fine."

Feeling a bit of distance when she didn't call him by name, Gojo Satoru reminded her.

"O-okay. Satoru-chan?"

"That's better."

"Don't change the subject, Satoru-chan! Why haven't you replied to my messages? You've been missing for over half a month, and we'd only just become friends!"

Hasebe Haruka wasn't letting it go.

They'd only exchanged contact details during swimming class, and had even become close enough to call each other by nicknames. Then he'd disappeared without a trace.

"Huh? Didn't Airi-chan tell you? I don't like looking at my phone."

"Are there really people like that nowadays?"

Hasebe Haruka couldn't believe that in an age when the internet was everywhere, someone would refuse to keep in touch online.

"There are, there are. I'm heading off now. My girlfriend's waiting for me to bring her some food."

"What?! Satoru-chan already has a girlfriend?"

As she spoke, she glanced at Sakura Airi behind her. Airi only ducked her head lower and squeezed Haruka's hand more tightly.

"Of course. I'm a total heartthrob, after all. I've already got two girlfriends, and they're both gorgeous!

If Kaka or Airi-chan ever run out of points and can't get by, you can come to me. I'll take care of you!"

Hearing his joking words, which nevertheless seemed somewhat sincere, Hasebe Haruka only called, "Satoru-chan, you womanizer!" Then she pulled Sakura out of the classroom.

"How does that make me a womanizer? I just want to give every girl I like a home."

Watching them leave, Gojo Satoru only smiled and muttered to himself.

"Gojo-kun!"

I was on my way back to the dorm with a boxed lunch in hand. As for why I'd bought one instead of making it myself:

First, it was a hassle. Second, there simply wasn't enough time. School let out pretty early in the afternoon, but the lunch break was only an hour.

The trip there and back alone would take a while, so I wouldn't have time to cook.

Hearing someone call out to me, Gojo Satoru looked back. Kobashi Yume was running toward him, holding Shiranami Chihiro's hand.

I knew their names, but only because I'd heard them. To avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings, I pretended not to know them.

When they reached him, Gojo Satoru asked in confusion, "Excuse me, who are you?"

Realizing he didn't know her, Kobashi Yume immediately introduced herself.

"I'm Kobashi Yume, and this is Shiranami Chihiro. We're in the same class as Mako, and we're good friends.

"We heard Mako was absent today too, so I wanted to ask you what was going on. After all, last night..."

"Because Mako told us last night that she was with you!"

Shiranami Chihiro hurriedly cut in.

It was embarrassing enough to have been spying on someone. It was best not to say so aloud.

Kobashi Yume caught on and quickly added, "Oh, right, right! She called us last night and said she was with you, but we couldn't get through when we called her today. So when we saw you, we thought we'd come ask."

Were two of the three people hiding behind the tree last night these two? Then who was the third? That aura had seemed somewhat familiar.

Seeing how nervous they were, Gojo Satoru couldn't be bothered to call them out.

Instead, he simply answered, "Mako's in my dorm. Something minor happened between us last night, so she probably can't make it to class today.

"But she should be able to go to class as usual tomorrow."

He briefly explained what had happened. There was no need to hide it, especially since the two girls in front of him were targets too.

"Huh?!"

The two of them were a little slow on the uptake, but he'd made it so clear: Mako was in his dorm, and because of a minor mishap, she couldn't go to class. They'd only just gotten together, so it would've been strange if they still couldn't figure out what had happened.

Shiranami Chihiro's mind was already reeling. She was still trying to figure out how to confess to Ichinose, while her good friend had already entered the adult world!

"Th-then... that's really... really..."

Kobashi Yume could barely get her words in order. Her best friend had already gotten that far with the person she liked on the very first day they got together!

She didn't know whether she should congratulate her, and besides, was it really okay for him to be so blunt about it?

"If that's all, I'll be off. Xiao Mako's waiting for me to bring her some food. See you."

Seeing that they could hardly speak, Gojo Satoru decided not to tease them any further. He smiled, said goodbye, then turned and continued toward the dorm.

"O-oh! See you!"

Kobashi Yume responded as soon as she came to her senses, but Shiranami Chihiro was still pondering the meaning of life and didn't react at all.

That afternoon, right after school.

"Gojo-kun."

I'd just left the classroom and was planning to go back and check on Xiao Mako when I heard someone call my name. I turned around.

Ken Sudō approached with his right hand rubbing the back of his head, wearing a bashful grin.

"What is it?"

Since coming to school, I didn't think I'd had another confrontation with him. Was he asking to borrow points? Unlikely. Or was it about the basketball team?

"Well, I'm sure you know I joined the Basketball Club, Gojo-kun.

"Yesterday, my captain found out that Class D had zero Class Points, so he wants to organize a basketball game between the first-year newcomers and the third-year veterans.

"For every basket a first-year newcomer scores, he'll pay them 500 Private Points as a reward.

"He also said that if you take part, he'll pay you the same amount of points as last time."

Five hundred points per basket? That wasn't much for me, but it should be a decent amount for the other first-years. Then again, the first-years didn't seem very good.

Pay me three million just for showing up? This was obviously aimed at me.

"Didn't he tell you how much it would be?"

"No, he didn't."

He's keeping his mouth shut, at least.

I remembered that the first-years weren't very good. The only one with much talent was Ken Sudō, and even he'd only made the starting team after training for several terms.

Were they planning to use teamwork to beat me and teach me that individual ability wasn't everything?

But he hadn't said anything about winning or losing. He'd said I'd get paid just for taking part. Did he think I wouldn't turn it down?

Still, there was no reason to refuse free points. I could give half of them to Xiao Mako afterward.

With my seemingly endless stamina, there wouldn't be much difference between playing five rounds and playing until the end. It'd just take a little longer.

"When is it?"

"After school tomorrow. The day after that is the weekend, so there'll be plenty of time."

"Sure."

"Great. I'll tell the captain. Gojo-kun, just change into your gear and head straight to the gym after school tomorrow.

"I still have club practice to attend, so I'll be going. See you."

With that, Ken Sudō ran off.

Well, I'll treat it as a way to kill some time. I'll take Xiao Mako to watch tomorrow.